My startup just came out of StartupWeekend, how can I make sure that my teammates don't steal my idea?

So I attended a StartupWeekend where I pitched my idea and was made into a team. We didn't win but we had enough feedback to think that the product could pivot and be made into an actual startup. However, our team is much too large (10+ people) and some people have a different idea of what the product should be like (but with still very much similar overlapping concepts).Is there a way for me to copywrite my idea or draw up a contract for them to sign stating that they won't disclose to any third parties or start their own company with my idea?Thank you!

I'd suggest you bookmark this post and look back on it a year from now. You're going to laugh at how much you were protecting an idea that you ended up modifying so much that it's barely recognizable from what you imagined at StartupWeekend.

You'll laugh at how much you were worried that this random group of people would destroy your hopes when most of them ended up continuing with their normal lives since they didn't have the sufficient will/drive/pain-tolerance to bring a startup to life.

You'll also realize that your biggest obstacle the whole time was creating something that people actually wanted so that you don't end up being the 9 out of 10 startups with a crappy idea.

Look back on it two weeks from now. I would be surprised is even one other person is still working on it. If this other group does keeps going with a slightly different idea, that could be the best thing for you.

Please forget about drawing up contracts and the like; You shared your idea so they will not sign an NDA/NCA.

Instead of focussing on beeing the guy with the idea, try to focus on what else you can bring. If you can, for example, get funding or have lots of domain knowledge, they will not want to kick you out / start on their own. They'll need you for reasons besides beeing the guy with the idea.

And yes, as others have noted: The idea behind a startup product will evolve and change a lot during the first year(s). It's completely normal, so try to listen to your team and use their input.

Yeah. The guy who said bookmark the page, I love it! Do that! Honestly you could hand the idea to them on a silver platter and there is a .00000000000000000001% chance they will actually do something with it. Execution, become familiar with it. It's a bitch. It will put you on a roller coaster of emotion and test you more than anything else in life, buckle up.

If you developed the idea at all as part of the team, the entire team is going to have claim to the idea or part thereof.

Also startups that are in early stage and insist on NDA style agreements are generally red flags of a startup that isnt going to do well. Statistically speaking your idea is not unique and your success all comes down to how well you execute your vision.

I didn't develop the idea as part of the team, I thought of the entire concept/product before the weekend and during the weekend, they made some major changes in the product that I didn't necessarily agree with/found useless. So then they would have claim to the changed idea but could they go ahead with my original idea in the future if they found that that was needed?